Climbing Mount Kinabalu: Spiritual peak of Borneo

Ian Lloyd Neubauer, for CNN • Updated 17th November 2015

FacebookTwitterEmail

View Gallery

10 Pictures

Editor's Note — CNN Travel's series often carries sponsorship originating from the countries and regions we profile. However, CNN retains full editorial control over all of its reports. Read the policy.

(CNN) — Before Christianity and Islam became the dominant religions of the island of Borneo, animist beliefs dictated that when a person died, their spirit rose to the peak of Mount Kinabalu.

At 4,095 meters above sea level, it's one of the highest mountains in Southeast Asia.

Today, UNESCO-listed Mount Kinabalu National Park is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the state of Sabah, in Malaysian Borneo, with visitors needing to book two to three months in advance to secure one of 196 daily allocated hiking permits.

Though Sabah is developing at pace, villagers living at the foothills of Mount Kinabalu continue to perform animist rituals to appease spirits residing at the cloud-ringed peak so no harm comes to those who scale it.

From Malaysia's capital of Kuala Lumpur, a number of flights to Sabah capital Kota Kinabalu are available.

Flight time is about two and a half hours.

The drive from Kota Kinabalu to Mount Kinabalu takes about two hours.

Ian Lloyd Neubauer is a Sydney-based freelance journalist specializing in adventure travel. He's reported extensively across East Asia and the South Pacific and is the author of two travel novels, Getafix (2004) and Maquis (2006).